Search for counterparties and checking their reliability. Open Data (Honest Open Business) Service for Honest Business

Is it possible to conduct business in Russia absolutely honestly, paying all taxes regularly, at the same time have a good income and not be afraid that one day they will come for you and send you to where you will return from (if you are lucky) only after a few years? We talked about this with State Duma deputy Kira Lukyanova, the author of the controversial project on amnesty for those convicted of crimes in the economic sphere. The conversation turned out to be unhappy.

Kira Alexandrovna, the general tone of our conversation will apparently depend on how you assess the state of the business climate in Russia, its investment attractiveness, the security of property and... the quality of domestic justice. On a five-point scale, if possible.

For a solid two. The state of the business climate, as the president has repeatedly noted, is unsatisfactory. Investments are not coming to us, business is fleeing the country. And not at all "speculative" capital, not an abstract oligarchy, but fully established representatives of small and medium-sized businesses. They are simply afraid to continue doing business in their own country. They are afraid of state pressure, "landings", which have become a ubiquitous phenomenon. These are not horror stories ... We have conducted interactive surveys many times: up to 70% of people with capital are ready to leave Russia by moving their business abroad. Let it be small. Packing suitcases. They go to the Czech Republic, Bulgaria to do the same thing as here - to sell paint, furniture fittings, etc. Anything, anywhere, but not here. Note that they are not going to the USA, but to the countries of the former socialist camp, where, unlike ours, the ideology has approached the pan-European one. They buy real estate (it's cheaper there), open a business. After some time, they receive a residence permit, tax benefits. Investors are valued there, they are attracted in every possible way to those who are ready to invest in the economy not only a million, but also 100, 50 thousand euros. What are we doing? And we do not attract strangers, and we “smoke out” our own ... Many of those who intend to stay, turn things off. Last year, for example, the number of commercial organizations that ceased their activities amounted to 45.3% of the total number of registered ones. So far, absolutely no one in Russia, no matter what individual entrepreneurship he may be engaged in, can feel protected.

As for domestic justice, it is precisely because of its shortcomings, especially in terms of property protection, that foreigners are still afraid to invest in Russia. I wouldn't talk about independence at all. A distinctive feature of our judicial system is a pronounced punitive, repressive bias. If the case went to court, you can not hope for an acquittal.

Speaking of independence. The Council of Judges proposes to install special security systems in judges' apartments at public expense. When a judge is calm for his life, there are more guarantees of fair justice - that is what is meant.

We are talking about the physical safety of judges, but there are not very many such examples. As a rule, judges are subjected to administrative pressure, they are intimidated by the fact that they will be deprived of their place or disqualified. By issuing an acquittal for an economic crime, the judge exposes himself to the danger of falling out of the cage. It is believed that the verdict should be guilty - at least a fine, but not an acquittal. It's a statistic, you can't run away from it.

The old saying that one does not renounce the bag and prison does not lose its relevance with us. A step to the left is the first, to the right is the second... How many entrepreneurs, according to your estimates, are currently in prison?

In total, over 806 thousand people (0.6% of the country's population) are kept in Russian colonies, prisons and pre-trial detention centers. Among them are entrepreneurs on purely economic lines, according to the Center for Legal and Economic Research, up to 100,000. Every sixth merchant has ever been under investigation in our country.

How actively is the tool of criminal prosecution used not to punish the really guilty, but to redistribute property, eliminate competitors, settle scores, etc.?

The last 5-7 years have been extremely active. The guilt of the Krylovsky lamb was only that the wolf wanted to eat. Many of those currently serving their sentences were guilty only of the fact that someone liked their business. Why prepare a raider seizure yourself, when you can carry it out with the hands of law enforcement officers, urgently “ask” them to find some kind of clue. And they will definitely find it. “They will call for help” 171, 159, 174 or 199, tax, article of the Criminal Code. There would be a person, but there would be an article. The law enforcement system as an institution is confidently turning into a collective raider.

What, in your opinion, is the ratio of the number of really guilty persons to those convicted in trumped-up, custom-made cases? How do the number of convictions and acquittals for economic crimes compare?

Not more than 1% of acquittals. From a third to a half of entrepreneurs are imprisoned, if not by direct order, then on charges for which it was quite possible not to deprive them of liberty. Let's take the same article 159 of the Criminal Code - "Fraud": about 30 thousand people a year are convicted under it. It is actually very convenient for law enforcement officers, since it is possible to attract anyone who is not too lazy to use it. In our Criminal Code, only half a page is allotted for it. And if we take German law, Austrian law, then there it is painted in the most detailed way: the first type of fraud, the sixth, tenth ... Many subsections. In our case, the article “Fraud” also includes a person who robbed a grandmother or built a financial pyramid, and a person who owes money to someone, but due to the crisis did not return it on time. His case could be resolved in the civil law field, but he is closed in a prison cell.

According to the Supreme Court, in the first half of 2011, 3 times fewer businessmen (by 10,000) were taken into custody than in the same period last year. Served as a very comforting fact.

A little, but really comforting. At least 10,000 families were happy. Before the president's intervention, 90% of requests for pre-trial detention were granted, now 20% less. Very little, of course, but at least some movement forward.

Kira Alexandrovna, you are the initiator and one of the co-authors of the bill on amnesty for those convicted of economic crimes in connection with the 20th anniversary of Russia's independence. Your initiative was met with hostility and rejected by the Duma majority. What is the reason? "Economic inmates", having been released, will they pose a real threat to the economic security of the country?

Our colleagues from United Russia called our idea immoral and populist, with which I categorically disagree. Immoral was the amnesty last year, on the Day of the Great Victory, when our critics, instead of the estimated 300,000 people, released less than a hundred people. 63 people out of more than 800 thousand - hundredths of a percent.

Quite recently, Dmitry Medvedev said that he was not against amnesties and called for a clear definition of which trains to extend it to. Representatives of United Russia, who had previously been categorically against it, after the presidential parting words, said that they were ready to develop the corresponding bill themselves. How, in your opinion, can such an attempt to seize the initiative end? Amnesty for a very limited number of articles?

The topic of amnesty is now being actively discussed by the Presidential Administration, and it is our “broad” version, which includes articles 159 “Fraud”, 160 “Embezzlement”, 165 “Deceit or abuse of trust”, that is taken as the basis. The EP stated that our version of the amnesty (very well-known lawyers and experts took part in the development) had many technical errors, so it was easier to write a new one. I think that at the beginning of the autumn session they will submit their draft, quite possibly without including the above-mentioned articles. The 159th will either be removed completely, or only the first part will be left with little damage. If it is accepted, then the majority of "economic" people will not be given freedom for the New Year holidays (We have Independence Day on December 12) and they will have to sit from bell to bell and not count on freedom. Sitting in appalling conditions (only African ones can compare with our prisons), with chronic diseases that, of course, no one treats there.

The fact that the “economic amnesty” was discussed at the highest level, is it just a manifestation of mercy or a sober calculation? After all, the prisons are overcrowded. Maybe it just needs to make room for new prisoners?

Both. The state spends 16.5 thousand rubles a month for the maintenance of one prisoner. If we compare these figures with the average salary in the regions -15-20 thousand rubles, then they look very impressive.

The hero of Vladimir Vysotsky, Gleb Zheglov from "Meeting Place ..." assured that there are no punishments without guilt. According to polls, the majority of Russians share his point of view - people still perceive businessmen as grabbers who only strive to “cut down money easily” and cheat their neighbor. Therefore, and rightly so. Is not the business community, but society as a whole, ready for an economic amnesty? How to break the stereotype "an entrepreneur means a crook"?

A very sore point. Despite the fact that the majority of “economic convicts” certainly deserve a speedy release and return to full-fledged activity, an economic amnesty in Russia is unlikely to gain mass popularity. Society is too negative towards entrepreneurs. Most thinking people with higher education are in favor of making it happen. But this stereotype, which was formed under Gorbachev, when the first cooperatives were created, is very tenacious. And these crooks must be beaten with the law, like with a flail, at every opportunity. It is difficult, but necessary, to talk about economic amnesty with society, with people who do not adhere to any ideologies. It is necessary to explain that businessmen are not bad, they are simply different, that their life is not easier, but in many ways even harder. Yes, they do not stand at the machine, but they are not loafers and thieves. They just want to work for themselves while living in Russia, while creating jobs for others, and do not want the state to take 90% of their profits from them.

Should a suspended sentence be expunged during an amnesty?

In our edition, yes. We set that zero starting point from which you can start life anew.

In your opinion, what percentage of convicts released on trumped-up charges will find the strength to fight for a review of the case, demand compensation from the state for moral and material damage (ruining the Ministry of Finance with lawsuits), seek investigations, expose someone? After all, businessmen, for the most part, are active people and, for the most part, not broken.

It is difficult to say, of course, it all depends on the nature of the person. But trying to punish the people who sent you to jail for no reason, going through the courts, takes a lot of time, costs, nerves, and can become a torture. I think the majority will take up a specific matter, sigh heavily, and start all over again. Someone is leaving...

Recently, the head of the Armed Forces, Vyacheslav Lebedev, proposed to stop criminal cases and release from criminal liability the accused who fully repented and compensated for the damage (now in this case the punishment is only mitigated). It turns out that it is more expensive to fight for justice? Accused do not understand what? It’s bad, of course, but it’s easier to repent of what you didn’t do than to prove something ...

It is extremely difficult for us to get the truth. In the law enforcement, prosecutorial, judicial environment there is mutual responsibility, the honor of the uniform is defended by all means, which is often interpreted absolutely wrongly. Therefore, the temptation to sincerely repent of what you did not do, realizing your innocence in your soul, will be very great.

A draft law was submitted to the State Duma prohibiting criminal cases of fraud and embezzlement against businessmen from being initiated without a complaint from the victims. What is his fate?

Hopefully, it will be accepted, although it received not too positive reviews. Such amendments, despite the fact that they deal only with the first and second parts of Articles 159 and 165 of the Criminal Code, with damages up to 250,000 rubles, will still protect businessmen from pressure from the security forces. Now criminal cases under these articles can be initiated at the request of the prosecutor's office. It is she who initiates the vast majority of such cases.

An interesting conclusion can be drawn from the rather crafty statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: the number of economic crimes is constantly decreasing, while the number of criminal cases is not decreasing. What is the reason? One defendant is charged with several criminal cases?

Economic items are categorized as identifiable, not 'by application'. Of the 10 cases filed, 2-3 reach the court, the rest crumble - either they really failed to collect a decent evidence base, or they forced the merchants to pay “compensation”. In addition, the number of such cases is not decreasing, since recently the “non-economic” article 206 of the Criminal Code “Abuse of power” has been very actively applied.

There is an opinion that amnesty is a kind of state favor, but not a cure for the vices of the law enforcement, judicial, correctional, tax systems, not the recognition of mistakes. Yes, and in our legislation there are still rules that are simply impossible to comply with. Do you share this point of view?

Yes, it is an act of mercy, but not a cure. The disease cannot be overcome with one pill. This is not a panacea for all ills. But this is the first step, a chance for the state to show that it is changing its attitude towards the business community, forgiving both the right and the wrong. That is why it is impossible not to welcome the emerging opportunity to release thousands of unjustly condemned people, but it is impossible to believe that everything ends there. This question will remain open even after the amnesty.

A comprehensive “treatment” consists in revising the entire legal framework in the field of entrepreneurship, since it contains norms that are no longer possible to comply with in modern conditions. Many entrepreneurs are serving time under articles of the Criminal Code that are not known to the civilized legal order. It is necessary to radically change the judicial system, to rid judges of dependence. And if they become truly independent, then not petty officials or businessmen will go to prison, but bigger birds.

But the most effective means can only be a global "reshaping" of the Tax Code. All statements that we have very low tax rates are slyness. In other countries, some taxes may be higher, but how much can be included in the cost of production! We never dreamed. We have 98 kopecks of tax burden per ruble of revenue. In your opinion, is it possible under such conditions to speak of SMEs flourishing and investing in innovative technologies? He needs to be stimulated for this, saved from some kind of taxes, and then he will be more willing to invest in his own industry, in his production. I'm not talking about intellectual property, about patents, which in our country cannot actually affect the capitalization of a company. Take one of the largest American companies - the manufacturer of Coca-Cola. In its balance sheet, 70% are intangible assets, the brand. Remove the brand - there will be no company. We are far from that. The understanding of the problem exists only at the very top, but is not supported by the middle link, which considers its task only to pump resources abroad.

In Western countries, they understand that it is pointless to expect abundant tax revenues from a start-up company in the first few years. She needs to be groomed and cherished, and only then will she, like that chicken, begin to lay golden eggs. We are required to show profit immediately and pay taxes on it. It comes to the point that accountants, with the sanction of the management, who does not want to quarrel with the tax inspectorate, simply “draw” this profit, because in reality it does not exist and cannot be - well, the enterprise has not yet got on its feet, they are only investing in it.

Amendments are made, laws change, but law enforcement practice remains unchanged. A bad dream does not want to dispel. Everyone shouts that small business is our hope and support, that it needs to be patronized in every possible way, but in reality they treat it like a lemon that can be squeezed and thrown into the garbage chute. Is there any light at the end of this tunnel?

You see, no matter how good, ideal laws may be adopted before the practice of their application, if the court needs to imprison this person, it will imprison him.

I repeat - this gap could be a radical reform of the Tax Code. I will express a seditious judgment, which in fact is shared by everyone: if entrepreneurs work strictly according to the Tax Code, they will not receive any profit at all.

Let's take my “favorite” paragraph 3 of Article 32 of the Tax Code: “If within two months from the date of expiration of the deadline for fulfilling the demand for payment of tax sent to the taxpayer on the basis of the decision to hold accountable for committing a tax offense, the taxpayer has not paid in full the specified claiming the amount of arrears, the amount of which allows us to assume the fact of a violation of the legislation on taxes and fees, containing signs of a crime, the tax authorities are obliged to send materials to the investigating authorities within 10 days from the date of detection of these circumstances to resolve the issue of initiating a criminal case. In practice, we have the following situation: an inspector comes to the company and declares that for 5 years it has underpaid some amount to the budget (say, 10 million rubles), and soon a criminal case may be initiated. “We all honestly paid, but you yourself fixed it,” say the merchants. “And then we simply overlooked it,” the tax authorities say. And you can’t convince the inspector that your company is engaged, for example, in brokerage activities, in which the turnover is large, and the profit is not very good, since it does not consist of turnover, but of the commissions that the broker is paid.

There are only two ways out of a delicate situation: fast, but illegal, and legal, but time-consuming and not always effective. The first is often offered by the tax authorities themselves: to “agree” for 20 percent of the announced amount. The second is to complain and sue. To begin with, file an appeal with a higher tax authority, where they will tell you: first pay, and then sue, and if you prove your case, then we will return everything to the penny. Rush to sue without paying - they will arrest assets, accounts, providing intractable problems with counterparties, customers. In a word, they will drive you into a dead end. Thus, in order to stay afloat, accountants have to show a different tax base, “convert” salaries, and forget about VAT refunds.

Relieve them of this need, and then things will get better. Make sure that business works for the good of the country, and does not think about how to stay alive, and then the situation will begin to change for the better. Everyone cannot leave. So provide the rest of the normal habitat.

How can I find information about a company of interest?

Enter the name of the company in the search bar and click or the arrow button to the right of the search bar. As a refinement of the search, you can enter the region where it is located after the name of the company, for example:

Honest business moscow

On the search results page, you can use the filters on the right to make browsing easier. To refine your search query, use the search bar at the top of the search results page. If your query is popular, you will see search suggestions as you enter it.

What sources does the Honest Business project get its information from?

Main data sources:
general data about the company - Unified State Register of Legal Entities;
financial data - Rosstat;
data on litigation - a file of arbitration cases;
data on enforcement proceedings - the website of the bailiff service;
data on trademarks - Rospatent;
information about disqualified persons, mass addresses, etc. - services of the tax service;
information on licensed types of activities - the Federal Law on licensed types of activities;
information about licenses - Unified State Register of Legal Entities and lists of licensees on the websites of licensed bodies;
information about risky activities - the Federal Law on Combating the Legalization and Laundering of Proceeds from Crime and Combating Terrorism;
information about persons included in the lists of terrorists - Rosfinmonitoring;
data on phones and websites of companies - search on the Internet (information not verified).

What to do if the information about your company on the Private Business website is not entirely correct?

Register on the site and report a bug to us using the Report a bug service on the company page. We will check your information and, if an error is made due to our fault, we will eliminate it. If the source of the error is data from official sources, we will explain how to remove this information.

Who are one-day firms?

At various times, the Ministry of Taxes and Duties and the Central Bank have formulated a number of criteria that such companies meet. Here is some of them:
the company has a minimum authorized capital;
the founder and director of the company are one and the same person;
the company is registered at a mass registration address;
director and chief accountant - one and the same person;
the director or founder of the company is a director or founder in a large number of companies;
the company does not have a website on the Internet;
there is no direct communication with the head of the company.
We checked all companies for compliance with this criterion, except for the coincidence in one person of the director and chief accountant. You will have to do this yourself.
The results of our verification can be found in the Reliability section, which is on the page of each company.

Why is it dangerous to work with firms that fall under the criteria of one-day firms?

You will be visited more often by tax inspectors for on-site inspections.
1. Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 30, 2007 No. ММ-3-06/33 “On Approval of the Planning Concept for Field Tax Audits” contains 12 risk criteria. The last, twelfth, criterion is called "Conducting financial and economic activities with a high tax risk." Transactions with dishonest counterparties also fall under this criterion. The concept directly states that taxpayers who are known to be involved in tax evasion schemes using one-night stands are included in the inspection plan in the first place. As a result, you may simply charge additional taxes. The tax authorities have worked out a simple way to replenish the budget: it is enough to find one-day firms among your counterparties, recognize the savings received from transactions with them as an unreasonable tax benefit and accrue arrears. Unfortunately, judicial practice in such cases is on the side of the tax authorities.
2. You may have problems with the Criminal Code. Article 173.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation promises the organizers of one-day firms themselves, in the worst case, up to three years in prison. In the case of a proven history of underpayment of taxes, Article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Evasion of taxes and (or) fees from an organization” can be applied to you, which, in an unfortunate combination of circumstances, promises up to two years in prison with a possible disqualification of up to three years.
We hope nothing like this happens to you. Please be careful, because going to the investigating authorities is unpleasant in itself.

What are twin firms?

The creation of twin firms is a fairly common unfair practice. Company management establishes companies with identical or very similar names in order to hide part of the income from the founders (shareholders) of the main company. Usually the twin company has the same address as the main company, the same statutory activity, an account in the same bank, etc. Firm-double uses all available techniques of mimicry. "Honest Business" checks companies by name and address, in case of a match, we warn you about it.

What to do if your counterparty has a twin company?

Fortunately, this unfair practice is more often used in one-time transactions, such as purchase and sale transactions. Carefully check all identification data in contracts, compare them with the data of licenses, certificates of ownership, etc. Remember that TIN and OGRN are unique identifiers.

Can I check the counterparty myself?

Yes, government agencies disclose information to a sufficient extent. You can independently refer to the sources from which Honest Business receives information and create your own dossier. We recommend that you print it or save it on your disk. We only collect, organize and analyze information for you to save your time. In any case, it is not worth paying 200-500 rubles to services for checking counterparties for a certificate from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

Is it enough to check the counterparty according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities?

It is enough if you are interested in diagnoses from the category “the patient is alive” or “the patient is dead”. If you are careful about business, then you will be interested in slightly more accurate diagnoses, at least "the patient is more alive than dead." To do this, you need to look at other sources.

Why monitor your counterparty?

Not necessary if you have a short one-time trade. If the counterparty is important to you (for example, the costs under the contract with him are more than 10% of the cost of your business, or his services are of vital importance: for example, you opened a private kindergarten and entered into an agreement with the company for the supply of food), our view, it is essential to be aware of the underlying circumstances of your counterparties. Use the service Follow the company on the company page and be aware of changes in contacts, management, founders of the companies you are interested in; stay informed about new litigation and developments in ongoing arbitration cases. React to changes in a timely manner and manage risk. We make risk management easy!

What is the level of reliability?

We calculate the company's reliability level using our own method. This is an aggregate indicator, which takes into account several groups of risks: industry risks, the company's own risks, its financial stability, etc. proceedings. You can familiarize yourself with the rating calculation methodology on the Rules page. The level of reliability is a private opinion of "Honest Business", this information cannot be used to make any management decisions.

We do not give an answer to the question of whether you work with a company or not. You make this decision yourself. Our goal is to help you ask questions to the counterparty and identify possible problematic points. Explore the details of the reliability level in the Reliability section on the company page, ask your partner questions and make a decision.

What are "similar companies"?

It happens that you come to the boss with a proposal to conclude an agreement with a particular company and hear in response: who else is on the market? In order to make it easy for you to answer this question, we have selected companies with a similar type of activity that operate in the same region as your supplier and with no worse rating. We hope this will help you in a conversation with your superiors. Yes, and keeping suppliers in good shape, from time to time studying the market, is never superfluous.

We work with foreign companies, is it necessary to collect dossiers on them?

Article 401 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation directly states that business must be conducted on the principles of discretion and reasonable care, so foreign companies also need to be checked. "Honest Business" does not yet work in other jurisdictions. Below you will find a list of resources where you can get information about companies that are non-residents of the Russian Federation. Some of these resources are paid. If for some reason you are not comfortable doing the verification yourself, write to us - we will collect the information and translate it for you. Attention: the service is paid. Sources:

"newdesign:company.foreign.details" is not a component

Do I need to check the counterparty with whom we have been working for a long time?

Our experience, unfortunately, says that you need to check familiar counterparties. They may change their founders, management, financial circumstances, etc., which may have a negative effect on the fulfillment of their obligations. Let's take an example from our own practice. Somehow we had to re-purchase devices for checking the authenticity of documents. The supplier fulfilled the first contract without complaints, delivered the operating equipment in full on time. With the second contract, the story turned out to be different: having received an advance, the supplier disappeared, stopped responding to calls, emails and official complaints. We were able to achieve the fulfillment of obligations only six months later, by filing an application with the court. Later, after analyzing the situation, we realized that if we had paid attention in advance to the emerging litigation involving the supplier company, we could have expected trouble and somehow insured against them, for example, not paying an advance. As the saying goes, trust but verify...

"Honest Business" is aimed at users who plan their future for a longer period than today. Unfortunately, we did not find other markers to predict the company's rating in the medium term. Financial information is available very late: Rosstat publishes results of operations for the last financial year starting from September of the following year. If you look at last year's financial results in December, it's rather difficult to draw conclusions from a year ago. Therefore, we measure the risks of future periods on the claims filed against the company.

Why do we need statistics of arbitration cases for previous periods?

To improve the objectivity of judgment. If you see that a company has not previously been involved in court cases, and now, for example, ten lawsuits have been filed against it, then this is a cause for concern. Obviously, there have been some changes and it will be prudent to get comments from the counterparty to make sure that you are not affected by this situation. If a company is constantly involved in several litigations, this may be a common practice for this type of activity, but it is better to get comments anyway.

If a company is sued for bankruptcy, what does it say?

In accordance with the Arbitration Procedure Code, a bankruptcy claim for a legal entity can be filed by a person whose debt to which exceeds 300 thousand rubles. Perhaps your counterparty simply does not pay money. We recommend considering this situation in conjunction with the financial information at the last moment - in this case, you simply need to find out this date from the counterparty. The agreement provides some ways to minimize risks: you can regulate the size of the advance, for example.

Companies differ primarily in the scale of their business. Therefore, we were forced to look for some kind of relative indicator that characterizes the problem with a high degree of objectivity. Indeed, if a company has 100 million of its own funds in its account, then it will easily settle claims for one million. If the company's assets are estimated at 100 thousand rubles, then even if all the property is sold, big problems may arise with the settlement of claims for a million. For a universal indicator when calculating claims, we take the value of net assets (total for balance sheet section 3 "Capital and reserves" in the general case), since in the general case it is this value that characterizes the company's ability to pay its obligations, and we bring all finances to it as common denominator.

Why do not all companies have financial indicators?

The single source of data on the financial performance of companies is Rosstat. Unfortunately, not all companies submit reports to the statistical authorities. More than 9 million companies are registered in Russia. In 2013, slightly more than 1.5 million companies submitted their balance sheets to the statistical authorities. This is three times more than in 2012. We are waiting for data for 2014 after September 18. Follow the news.

Why do companies for which there is no financial information rank lower than their industry peers?

It is psychologically human to evaluate the unknown with greater risk than the known negative information. The same logic works here. If we simply operate with numbers, some of the risk factors are tied to the value of the company's net assets. Accordingly, if financial statements are not provided, then the net asset value for calculation is zero. When calculating the rating, any, even insignificant, requirement (a filed lawsuit, open enforcement proceedings) greatly worsens the company's performance. If your company is among the non-responders, and you want to improve the rating, write to us. We will contact you and try to resolve the issue promptly.

How to look for relationships between companies?

Start with a company you know. On the company page, information about the CEO, founders, established companies is presented in the form of links. When you click on the link for the position Director or founder, a search results page will be generated containing information about companies where the person you are interested in is a director or founder. You will find the membership status in the company data under its name. Follow the link to go to the company's page, then follow the link to information about related persons, and so on until you have checked all possible links. To return to search results, use the browser's standard "Back" function. Now we are preparing a convenient presentation of information about related companies. Wait for the next version.

What does the inscription “possibly namesake” mean next to the name of an individual?

"Honest business" receives information mainly from databases of state bodies. These bases were created for a long time, the rules for their formation were constantly improved. We can talk about the coincidence of information on an individual if the full name and TIN match. Unfortunately, some records of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities do not contain information about the TIN, the registers of disqualified persons and "lists of terrorists" also do not contain information about the TIN of an individual. If only the full name matches, we cannot confidently conclude that the person is identified, and the accusations of disqualification and complicity in terrorism are very serious. We mark such cases of incomplete identification (only by coincidence of full name) with the inscription “possibly namesake”. After that, you can conduct additional identification and draw your own conclusions.

What to do if you cannot find the real beneficiaries of any company?

If the relationship between founders and directors does not allow shedding light on real stakeholders, we recommend that you approach the task creatively. The weak point of any scheme is people. You can find an unknown director or founder who can sign documents, but as soon as it comes to real work, specialists are needed. Pay attention to the representatives of such a company in courts, when considering arbitration cases, in competitive procedures. Find out who else these people have ever represented. Search queries and social media can be very informative. If you can't find the information you need, please contact us and we'll try to help. Attention: the service is paid.

Is there enough information received from Honest Business to consider the counterparty verified?

We check all the main risks of working with a counterparty. However, reinsurance never hurts. Type in the search engine the name of the counterparty and view the results. Of course, this will be information from unverified sources, without additional verification it cannot be used to make a judgment. In 90% of cases there is nothing. In another 9%, you will get information you already know, but 1% can significantly affect your assessment of counterparty risk.
We advise you to do this:
1. Print a dossier for a counterparty using the Print service on the company page.
2. Print out an extract for the counterparty from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. The service is available at the bottom of the company page. Attention: Unified State Register of Legal Entities allows you to print an extract only for the current date. Subsequently, it will be difficult to restore this information.
3. Request copies of constituent documents from the counterparty. Minimum set: charter, certificate of PSRN, TIN, protocol on the appointment of the sole executive body, bank card. Copies of passports of the director and chief accountant and other documents are desirable - as far as the situation allows.
4. Print the results of searching for information about the counterparty on the Internet. Fold all the documents into a file and place it in the "Contractors 201 ..." folder. Present the folder to the tax inspectors upon request.

How often do you need to update the counterparty dossier?

Federal Law No. 115-FZ “On Counteracting the Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds from Crime and the Financing of Terrorism” obliges to update the dossier on counterparties periodically, but at least once a year. We believe that it is advisable to set the update frequency depending on the degree of risk of the counterparty. For example, for counterparties with a high level of reliability and above average reliability, you can update the dossier once a year, with an average level of reliability - once every six months, for companies with below average reliability - quarterly, and for a low level of reliability, set a monthly period. Wait for the automatic update of the dossier in the next version of the site.

Who is the Fair Business project intended for?

Our target audience is business owners, CEOs, chief accountants, purchasing specialists and compliance managers. We offer a simple technique to remove most of the risks associated with the choice of counterparties. If due to the type of activity you periodically need a deeper check of counterparties, write to us, we will do it for you for a small fee. If you constantly need an in-depth analysis of the counterparty, it would be advisable to hire a specialist with experience in conducting search activities.

Open data of the Russian Federation- disclosed official information by public authorities (not containing personal data), which is freely available, has freedom of use and automatic processing.

Open data about legal entities and individual entrepreneurs is necessary to build an open legal society in Russia.

ZACHESTNYYBUSINESS.RF is a portal created to build an open information space about business in the Russian Federation. We deliver free public information from official sources to all Users. Open information is presented in the most convenient, processed form. The portal has an intelligent search, using which, any User can easily find the information he needs about a company or individual entrepreneur.

On the ZACHESTNYYBUSINESS portal, you can get free open data from official sources on any company or individual entrepreneur in the Russian Federation.

The data on the portal is updated daily and synchronized with the nalog.ru service of the Federal Tax Service of Russia.

To obtain public information about the company, enter the TIN / OGRN / OKPO / full name of the head / Company name. To receive open information about an individual entrepreneur, enter TIN / OGRNIP / OKPO / full name IP

Use the search bar to search:

By receiving information about companies and entrepreneurs of the Russian Federation, Users can make the right informed decisions about cooperation with companies, reduce possible financial losses, and identify unscrupulous organizations. The openness of data increases the trust of the population of the Russian Federation in business and the state. Open data creates an environment for the emergence of high-quality services, allows honest open companies to develop, increases the informatization of society and has a positive effect on the economy of the state.

The main provider of open business data in Russia is the Federal Tax Service of Russia. The Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation, the tax authority that maintains the main registers of companies and entrepreneurs (EGRLE and EGRIP), provides data on the basis of paragraph 1 of article 6 of the Federal Law of 08.08.2001 No. 129-FZ “On State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs” : Information and documents contained in state registers are open and publicly available, with the exception of information to which access is limited, namely information about documents proving the identity of an individual. Open official data on the business of the Russian Federation is extremely important when choosing and checking a counterparty, partner, conducting market analysis and many other functions that are extremely important for business development.

We wish you fruitful, comfortable work on the portal, using open data from official sources!
Your HONEST BUSINESS.RF!

Every year doing business with China becomes more and more interesting. Affordable prices, high quality and a wide range of local products are far from the only advantages of this country. For example, compared with Taiwan, Japan or South Korea, China is much faster in implementing the latest technical developments and successfully innovating in production. China is significantly ahead of its Asian competitors - it is here that entrepreneurs go for new products for sale, which still have no analogues in the world.

Nevertheless, the main factor for merchants when choosing business partners is still the low cost of products, and often the desire to save on what is not worth saving on turns into serious financial losses for them - retribution for cooperation with an unscrupulous Chinese contractor. A miser, as they say, pays twice. But this does not mean at all that all Chinese suppliers are scammers and it is dangerous to work with them.

The likelihood of encountering unscrupulous contractors in China depends on the demand for a particular product group. For example, this year one of the most discussed topics was cryptocurrency. Of the ten transactions for the purchase of mining equipment, six end in financial losses for entrepreneurs. And even for experienced intermediaries it can be difficult to determine the level of reliability of a contractor, since all companies producing the relevant goods have been on the market for no more than two years.

At the same time, there are categories of goods that have very low margins (like, say, ceramic tiles or tombstones), so you can’t earn a lot on fraudulent transactions with them, and, therefore, the likelihood of meeting an unscrupulous contractor here is low. In any case, before entering into a deal with a partner from the Middle Kingdom, you need to thoroughly prepare and learn in advance about the tricks of local scammers.

Fictitious deal: a double firm and a one-day firm

The art of deceiving newbies by Chinese scammers knows no bounds. The easiest way for scammers to mislead an entrepreneur is by phone or via the Internet. As a rule, a fraudulent scheme begins with a call or letter from the sales manager of one of the enterprises in China. A kind salesperson offers a product at a very attractive price and with the possibility of prompt delivery if payment for it is made as soon as possible, usually on the same day. Realizing that there is not enough time to fly to production with a check, the entrepreneur is limited to browsing the company's website. There he sees the corresponding product, all the characteristics, the coordinates of the supplier and, convinced of the security of the transaction, makes an order and makes an advance payment. When, having not received the batch at the appointed time, the entrepreneur contacts the supplier, it turns out that they hear about the existence of the order for the first time and did not receive any money. What happened? The Chinese swindler pretended to be an employee of the enterprise and communicated with the customer either from a specially created mail, the address of which is like two drops of water similar to that indicated on the company's website and is distinguished by an extra dot or hyphen, or from a hacked mailbox of a real manager.

It takes a lot of effort from fraudsters to prepare a "performance" for a businessman who decides to pay a personal visit to a potential contractor. In this case, speeches alone are not enough, therefore, in order to give the impression of a real enterprise, swindlers use decorations and extras. During the tour, the plant looks very natural: the machines are working at full capacity, Chinese workers in full uniforms are constantly scurrying around the shops, and the main characters - first-class scammers - proudly guide their gullible guests along all the corridors of the building, at the same time promising incredible prices and fabulous profit.

Of course, after such a royal reception, the businessman hurries to his native land in order to quickly draw up paperwork and transfer the necessary amount to newly minted contractors from the Middle Kingdom. That's just where the collaboration usually ends. After several weeks of waiting and unsuccessful attempts to contact the enterprise, the scam is revealed: renting a factory and hiring a crowd of onlookers for a small performance in China turns out to be not so difficult.

So, in order not to fall into the hands of scammers, before concluding a deal and transferring funds to China, it is necessary to conduct a full audit of a potential partner. You can start this process, literally without leaving your home, by analyzing information about the company on the Internet.

The first thing you should pay attention to is the domain on which the supplier's website is registered. If the address bar says ".cn" or ".cn.com", then this is a local address, and the owner presented a passport to register it. Scammers try to avoid advertising their identity in order to draw less attention to themselves, so they hang up fake sites mainly on American domains: if you have just such a one in front of you, this is a reason to be wary.

The next step is to check the domain registration date: this can be done, for example, using the "Whois" service. It is better not to contact beginners, but you can take a closer look at a company that owns a domain name for a long time and study the contents of the site.

The specified or, conversely, omitted information on the official page on the Internet can tell a lot about the company. There are two main points that you definitely need to pay attention to - this is the presence of the Chinese version of the site along with the English one and the indication of the landline phone number in the feedback section.

After making sure that the contractor has responsibly approached the content of the site, it is worth checking whether he was lying about his territorial location. To do this, you need to copy the production address from the contact page and paste it into the Google maps search bar. If the building belongs to the non-residential fund, then you can safely proceed to the next step of the verification - studying the reviews.

To do this, first enter the name of the company and “reviews” in the address bar, and then change the last word to “scam”. The first combination will show what current and former customers think about the contractor, and the second will search for the company on the list of scammers.

After completing all the procedures from the checklist, it is time for negotiations. But before discussing the terms of the deal, it is important to ask the potential contractor for copies of the registration document and an export license if the company works not only on the domestic market. All further discussions, of course, should take place in the format of a personal meeting directly at the enterprise. In order for a businessman to insure himself, before packing his bags and booking a ticket to China, you can ask partners for an official invitation for a visa. It will not be difficult for honest companies to do this, and scammers will look for all sorts of excuses so as not to attract attention from the embassy.

"Gold" item

The Chinese are obsessed with the idea of making money here and now, not caring about the prospects for long-term cooperation. To get more money from the current partner, the supplier needs to increase the turnover with him, and this implies the provision of volume discounts. It is much easier and more profitable under these conditions for Chinese merchants to find several new customers who are easily bought on attractive terms of cooperation at first glance. Thus, in order not to be left behind, it is important for an entrepreneur to navigate the market well and know the order of prices for the goods of interest.

But this awareness will save you from inflated prices only at the beginning of work. Unfortunately, some particularly voracious contractors find ways to “wind up” the cost already in the process of cooperation. We are talking here, first of all, about "hidden" payments. For example, one entrepreneur I know had to pay a significant amount during customs clearance of cargo, because this service was not included in the contract with the supplier. As a rule, avoiding talking about unexpected costs, Chinese merchants try to issue an additional invoice at a time when it will no longer be possible to change suppliers or return the prepayment. The only way to protect the company from unnecessary expenses is to conclude an agreement.

Illiterate contract

However, not everything is as simple as it might seem at first glance. First of all, it is worth noting that there can be no talk of any oral agreements - everything must be in writing. At the same time, the process of drawing up a contract must be approached very responsibly. First, you need to seek the services of a professional translator. Only fluency in Chinese will allow the parties to correctly understand each other and record the agreements reached in official papers without errors. Also, all documents must be thoroughly studied by lawyers. Any mistake or oversight in drawing up the contract can result in serious problems and financial losses for the entrepreneur.

It is very important to describe as precisely as possible the process of production of goods, and the final form of products. If you do not cover the details, then the Chinese will not miss the opportunity to replace materials with more budgetary and, at the same time, often lower quality ones, putting the money saved through this into their own pocket.

It is also necessary to prescribe the terms and conditions of delivery so that the Chinese side does not have the temptation to delay production, fulfilling other orders in parallel.

In addition, in case something does go against the terms of the contract, it is imperative to indicate the appropriate fines and penalties.

In the section of the contract regarding payment, the details of the supplier should be recorded, since real companies accept funds by transfer to the bank account of a legal entity. Requests for payment in another form, for example, through Western Union, indicate bad faith on the part of the supplier.

In fact, work with China, if it is clearly debugged, will bring not only profit, but also pleasure. The Chinese are very friendly and hardworking people. But, as in any other country, not everyone lives honestly here. If an entrepreneur does not pay due attention to debugging business processes at all stages of cooperation with the Chinese side, then he will most likely incur losses.

In practice, most entrepreneurs, especially beginners, have many questions regarding the process of searching and checking counterparties: what tools should be used, whether there are free opportunities for this, what information needs to be analyzed, etc. Moreover, there are no standard rules and criteria for such verification . All actions that need to be taken are usually developed by companies in the process of analysis themselves, based on risk assessment.

According to Andrey Khrykin, project manager at Focus.Forum, the process of checking counterparties rests on three pillars:

reliability - the intentions of the company and its relationship with the state and other business partners;
evaluation - identification of the main evaluation criteria and objective information;
knowledge - understanding what information is worth considering and what is not.

Why look for and check contractors?

Verification of a counterparty is a complex and not one-time, as it may seem to many, work. But it is necessary, because at stake is the money and reputation of the company. No wonder the tax authorities warn that the responsibility for choosing a counterparty lies entirely with the company. Therefore, it should be interested in assessing the risks and tax consequences that may arise as a result of cooperation with dubious counterparties. If the tax authorities have claims against one of your counterparties, it is likely that you will unwittingly find yourself in trouble.

Verification of new counterparties is also necessary, taking into account such a thing as “unjustified tax benefit”, which is supposed to be received by those entrepreneurs who minimize taxation by evading taxes.

How convenient is the service:

The search for a company or individual entrepreneur is carried out by name, address, full name, TIN and other parameters. The relevance and reliability of information is guaranteed through access to official state open sources.
In addition to fresh extracts from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and the EGRIP, the user receives data from the Card Index of the Supreme Arbitration Court, the Federal Bailiff Service, the Federal Treasury State Contract Database, the Unified Federal Register of Bankruptcy Information, and the Rosstat Accounting Database of Organizations.
The company card, in addition to all other necessary information, includes a selection of links with references to the company on the Internet, which allows you to speed up the process of collecting facts by aggregating information from the media, from forums with reviews, from the company's website and the websites of its partners, suppliers and customers, from the issuer's information disclosure page, from news resources.
The user of the service can put 1000 companies under observation. Having learned about changes in the data, Contour.Focus will notify the user about them by e-mail.
The service is able to analyze organizations according to criteria pre-set by the user.

Offline verification of the counterparty, identification of suspicious signs

Armed with all sorts of free online verification tools, don't forget about offline investigation as well.

What needs to be done?

Verify the actual location of the company at the address indicated in the documents.

This is especially necessary in cases where you are negotiating, for example, with a manufacturing company whose activities involve the presence of warehouses and premises for production. Unscrupulous counterparties may indicate non-existent addresses.

To get acquainted personally with the management of the company when discussing the terms of cooperation and concluding deals.
Make sure that the company intends to fulfill the terms of the deal.

This can only be understood in the course of negotiations, by observing the behavior of the leadership. You should be wary if the counterparty is in a hurry to conclude a deal and wants to quickly agree on payment, while luring you with low prices and unrealistic conditions.

Make sure that the conditions specified in the contract are feasible for the counterparty.

Does the counterparty have real opportunities to fulfill the terms of the contract? Will he be able to meet the deadlines for the production or delivery of the product? Will they violate deadlines when performing work?

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